Celestial Spirit Princess
by guardiankeeper537
Summary: In this universe, Lucy is the Celestial Spirit Princess. Dreaming about adventure and making friends, she gets her own key and is freed beyond the kingdom. Prince Leo is assigned to take care of her throughout her journey. But they have to find a way to stop the dark celestial spirits (the black keys) from taking over the spirit world.
1. An Eternal Adventure Begins

**Chapter One: An Eternal Adventure Begins**

A beautiful blonde princess lay on her bed with arms and legs spread out. She wore a golden dress that covered from her wrist to her ankle. Zodiac signs of different colors filled her dress. She always had her long hair in a side ponytail on the right. She also looked about 18 years old, but in the celestial spirit world, people age much more slowly than the mortals. Her brown eyes stared at the ceiling that had a space with constellations wallpaper.

Every day was pretty much the same for her. In the kingdom, every morning, she would get up and eats breakfast made by the best chefs. She has private tutors to teach her academics. Her favorite subject was Literature, and she sometimes wrote her own stories about adventures she wished to have. In the afternoon, she practiced her magic powers with trainers. She had the powers of all the Zodiac spirits. If she used a star dress, her power for that specific Zodiac would increase five times, but she would only be able to use that one power. However, lately, she's been working on her own spell based on what she learned in magic class. Then after dinner, she would attend meetings or other Princess "duties" for the celestial world. Finally, she would go back to sleep, only to repeat the process again the next day.

The Princess found no harm on what she was doing regularly. One thing she lacked: friends. Her father, the King, was really strict that she did not leave the kingdom. She could not anyways. She was a princess without her celestial key yet so she needed one made by her father to get through the invisible barrier around the kingdom. The Zodiac spirits were not allowed to meet her for some reason. So she tried to make friends with the servants around her, but none of them could match her adventurous and playful nature. Her father rarely met with her because he was really busy with maintaining the world. But he did say that there would be one day he will decide when she could be free. The princess kept waiting for that special day, still being hopeful every day.

Her eyes began to close. She was about to fall asleep before changing into her night gown. But her daydream about adventuring turned into a night dream.

The princess woke up from one of her maid calling her name. She sat up, realizing she accidently fell asleep. "Good morning," she said groggily.

"The king wishes to speak with you after you finish breakfast," the maid announced, bowing her head.

The blonde opened her eyes widely. Did she hear her right? Her dad finally came back to tell her she was free?! She quickly dressed up and ate her breakfast. She almost ran to the throne room. Bowing to her father, she greeted, "Hello father."

"Hello my shining star. I missed you so much," he smiled in his huge seat.

Still excited for the potential news, she replied, "I missed you too."

"I noticed your improvements in your magic skills."

"Yes, I've even started making my own spell!"

"I'm impressed. I'll be excited to see it someday. But the reason I called you today is that because you reached a high level of your magic, I believe it is time you obtain your celestial key."

On the inside, the princess was jumping up and down. On the outside, she was trying to restrain herself but still wearing the biggest smile she ever had. "Thank you father! Words cannot describe how happy I am."

"I'm glad you are. You've been so patient. I was actually busy making your key the last time I left." With some magic, a golden key appeared in front of her. On the end where you would hold it, the shape was a star with a flat diamond to fill in the middle. On the other end, it was heart shaped with gemstones around it.

The princess almost cried at how beautiful it was. She tried to hold it in as she touched it delicately. Before she can comment on it to her dad, the king explained the rules for her key, "Your key will be different from all other keys. You get to choose who will hold your key. So that means you will observe the other celestial wizards who you think will take the best care of you. Also, when they summon you, it will take all the magical powers, whether they are strong or not. That is all. "

"I understand. Thank you so much," she held the key close to her heart and bowed.

"One last thing, I have assigned Prince Leo the Lion to have a tour around the celestial world and mortal world. I trust him that he'll help you along your journey."

"Prince Leo?" she muttered.

"Princess Lucy," a guy behind her said. Lucy immediately turned around to see tall man in a tuxedo. He had orange hair that mirrored a lion's mane. Even two spikes looked like lion ears. His hazel eyes met Lucy's brown ones. Although they have seen each other in books before, their appearances looked a lot more beautiful and handsome in person in their eyes.


	2. First Stop - Virgo

Hey guys! Just wanted to say thank you so much for the follows, favorites, and reviews so far. I'll try to update every once a week on either Wednesdays or Thursdays. I'm also working on a different fanfiction in my profile but it's mainly for a best friend who knows the characters in there in real life. So if I don't get a chance to update, it'll be because of that, or I'm just super busy. I'll try to make the chapters longer than they are now. There are things I want to point out in this fanfic: 1) This is taken place around X377, Ana's time where she used the Eclipse Gate. 2) Leo does not have the name Loke and is not a playboy yet. 3) The main villain will come into the story after Lucy finishes most of the tour. So stick around to see how Lucy's and Loke's relationship grows first. Thanks again! ^_^

* * *

 **Chapter 2: First stop - Virgo**

"Princess Lucy," Prince Leo said softly. There was a noticeable pause when they first saw each other in person. But he was able to smile and walk towards her. Blushing, Lucy kept staring but looked back forward on the ground once she noticed. The prince stopped walking until he was at her left side.

"Even though Prince Leo will escort you around," the giant King said, "you still have to come back in the afternoon for your studies, training, etc. I updated your schedule to fit this morning time for tours. As for Prince Leo, I trust him that he will protect you at all costs."

"That's fine. Thanks!" Lucy bowed again.

"Now… smile!" the King put on his biggest grin that always made his daughter smile back. It was also his closing statement before he disappeared in sparkles.

"So Princess Lucy? Would you like to prepare yourself for the journey before heading off?" Leo turned to face her.

Lucy took a few seconds to figure out how to talk to him. Casually? Formally? Or like he was her friend? "Yeah, I'm going to go change before we leave. You can wait at the gates."

"As you wish," Leo winked. Lucy rolled her eyes. She didn't want to look too easy to sway. They walked out together and separated where they had to. Lucy changed into casual outfit: a blue sleeveless shirt that exposed most of the back, with golden clips on the front to close it and a white collar; a white skirt with a brown belt that has a pocket she put her own key in; tall brown boot that go up to her thighs; a black sleeve on her left arm from half way of her hand to her upper arm; and a white fluffy bracelet on her right wrist. She kept her sideway ponytail with a blue bow.

She ran to the gates to see Leo waiting for her patiently. "You look absolutely stunning, Princess."

"Thanks, and just call me Lucy."

"Okay, Lucy. You can just call me Leo too. But you'll always be my Princess," he took her hand and kissed it.

At first, Lucy didn't know what to do in these flirty situations. But she figured to play hard-to-get will be more fun. She was taught to be careful around guys like him, especially Leos.

She took her hand away, "No 'funny' business during these tours. That's my only condition."

"It depends on what you mean by 'funny,'" he smirked.

"You know exactly what I mean! If you do anything, you're going to get a beating from me!" she crossed her arm and looked away.

He chuckled under his breath. "Then I won't try _too_ hard." They started to walk on the crystal-like stairs that connected the stars. There wasn't any transportation in the spirit world, but the spirits didn't mind walking at all. "So here's the plan that'll probably take about few weeks. Anyways, we're going to first visit the 12 zodiac stars. Then some of the spirits that hold the gray keys, and the border between our land and the dark spirit's. Finally, we'll go to the mortal world and meet some of the celestial wizards. Sounds good to you?"

"Yeah I can't wait!" she exclaimed. Her dreams were starting to come true.

"I think we can visit three zodiacs a day before lunch. They live pretty far from here and far from each other."

"Will we go to yours first?" she asked eagerly.

He was glad that she wanted to see his star home first, but he had something else planned. "I was thinking about saving the best for last. So we'll go to the Virgo Star first and go in order of the calendar."

"Then your star better be worth it to save it for last."

"I promise," he smiled while glancing at her for a second. Lucy caught his eyes but looked away at the same time when he did. Hopefully this tension wouldn't go on for the whole journey, she thought.

The zodiacs lived in a circle surrounding the kingdom, so each lived equally apart from Lucy. While they walked, the princess asked questions about Virgo. She knew what they looked like and their powers, but not their personality.

Leo described her, "She has a monotone voice and a fetish for, well how do I put it, punishment."

"Punishment? Does she usually get in trouble?"

"No, not at all. She's really helpful and caring. But for some reason, she always asks to be punished."

"Okay?" she said with a long 'okay.'

"All the zodiacs are weird in their own ways, but we all have the same pure motive: to protect our masters and our Princess."

Lucy felt a warmness in her heart from that. They didn't even meet her in person, yet they would protect her.

With a couple of breaks in the middle, it took about an hour to arrive in the middle at Virgo's star. She expected some form of castle but she just saw village homes. It made sense since the Virgos are maids or servants. One of them looked bigger and more decorated than the others. She assumed that was the main representative of the Virgos. As the people saw her arrival, they bowed and politely greeted her.

The prince and princess walked towards that house and knocked on the door. A girl with short pink hair and blue eyes opened the door. She had a black under coat, a white frilled-trim apron, and a matching headband. She had a petite body and was about the same height as Lucy. The Princess saw that she was wearing shackles around her wrists but the chains weren't connected.

Virgo bowed with her right arm across her chest. In her monotone voice and straight face, she said "Princess, did you finally come to punish me?"

"Huh?!" Lucy was so confused, though she was warned beforehand.


	3. Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio

**Chapter 3: Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio**

"Punishment?" Lucy put her hands up. "No, I'm just here to visit."

Virgo put on a disappointed look on her face. "Oh, then please come in." She gestured them inside. She led them to her living room and prepared some tea. Lucy and Leo sat next together on the pink loveseat. There was an awkward moment where they kept silent. Lucy was looking at the opposite direction of Leo at first, but slowly turned her head towards him. She had no idea that he was doing the same motions as her. Once their eyes met, Lucy quickly looked away while the prince smiled and kept his eyes on her.

"Is there something wrong, Princess?" he asked, leaning closer.

Lucy crossed her arms and replied quickly, "No! I can ask the same for you."

"Actually, I see something perfect," he said in a low voice and moved forward to have a better look of her face. Surprised at his response, Lucy turned her head back at him. Right when she was about to say something back, Virgo came back already with the tea. They mainly talked about each other's life style so far. Maids and servants come and go in the Star of Virgo. Some are friends, while some like to compete for the better server. Lucy noticed some unfixed holes on the ground of her house, but she knew Virgo's power allowed her to drill holes easily without any equipment. When they felt like it was time to move on with the tour, Virgo offered one last thing.

"Princess, I present you my key." The key laid on both of her hands. "All of the Zodiacs agreed to give you our keys, but you have to do a small favor for us."

Lucy always wanted to collect the 12 Zodiac keys. However, she thought there were for the celestial wizards and only one of a kind. "I'm honored to have your key, but don't you give them to the celestial wizards in the mortal world?"

"We all made a second key just for you. The King approved and we gladly made another. If anytime you need us, but we're already summoned, we will still come to you immediately."

"Well I wouldn't want to harm anyone from taking away their spirits at a desperate time," Lucy said worryingly.

"You are our first priority. But if our other master needs us and then you call us, we'll let you know."

Lucy sighed in relief, "Alright. So what do I have to for you?"

"Please punish me in any way," she flat out replied.

Lucy blinked a few times, not sure if she heard her correctly, "Punish you?"

"Please, it gives me more pleasure than pain. Trust me," she smiled.

The princess felt really awkward. She looked at Leo who was just as weirded out as she was. She shrugged, "I guess." Lucy walked around the coffee table and stood right in front of her who stood up too. Leo was interested at what she had in mind. But Lucy just chose to flick her on the forehead. Virgo's eyes widened as she stood still. Then the tingling feeling went through her whole body.

Lucy didn't know what was happening, "I'm so sorry. Are you sure you don't want anything else. She was worried since Virgo was acting pretty extreme from just a flick.

"Oh my stars, Princess. I can feel the bliss from my head to my toes," she had a huge smile on her face.

Leo raised his eyebrow, "Is there a hidden power that I don't know you have, Princess?"

"No, I didn't know you would feel so much from that," she raised her hands.

"Well since you gave me what I want, here is my key. Call me if you need any holes dug." She handed her the key and Lucy gladly took it. "Also, here's a gift from the Eridanus Constellation. They wanted me to send you the Fleuve d'étoiles." It was a whip that only the cylindrical handle with a yellow star attached to a small blue rope on the end was visible when not in use. When it was in use, a jet of flowing water with an orange-white light twisting around it comes out and acts like a whip.

"The River of Stars," Lucy whispered, translating its name. She seen a picture of it in a book before and wanted to use it ever since.

"I could have let you use that to punish me," Virgo mentioned. "But I wanted to see what the Princess had in store."

Lucy nervously laughed, "I wouldn't use this on you anyways. But thank you so much!" She put the key and whip in her pocket next to her own key. The prince and princess left the Star of Virgo and headed to the Star of Libra.

"Hey Leo, Virgo said that all of the Zodiacs agreed to give me their key. Does that mean I get yours too?" Lucy asked, nudging him and smirking.

"Of course! But until we get to my house. Save the best for last," he winked. Lucy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She wondered what she had to do for him.

* * *

Once they reached the Star of Libra, they saw Libra performing a belly dance in front of a crowd. She had a green and yellow striped bikini top and a matching loincloth with white pom-poms at the waist. Her hair is tied in an ox horn style with a zigzagged headband. She wore sandals and bangles on her arm and legs. She looked mysterious with a white cloth that had her Zodiac sign tied around her head, covering her lower face. Also, she held a pair of scales, with thin cords running from her fingertips to the sides of the scales.

"That's Libra, right?" asked Lucy pointing at her.

"Yep," Leo replied. "Her dancing amazes me every time because of the crazy poses she does. But her balance is the best."

After her beautiful dance, Lucy and Leo met up with Libra. As the dancer rested, they stayed backstage and talked on separate couches with each having room for one person. She had gentle, mature voice. Lucy thought Libra has a fun life in her home star. Someday she could teach the princess how to dance like her.

"So, what is it that I have to do to for your key?" Lucy asked after Libra brought it out.

"As I wish…" she raised her scales which caused the gravity on both Lucy and Leo to become heavier. It was so strong that they fell from their couch and onto the floor. Leo fell first and Lucy fell on top of him.

"Why me?" Leo groaned.

"Sorry Leo," the blonde apologized.

He smiled, "It's fine. At least I'm not crushing you instead."

After a few more seconds, Libra stopped. They got up and sat on their couch again. After fixing her hair, Lucy asked, "Are you satisfied now?"

Libra smiled behind her cloth, "Very." She handed the key over and Lucy put it in her collection. "Princess, this was also a test of your personality. Even though you are our princess and master, you had no problem of me doing that to you."

"Yeah, I mean it was your wish," Lucy replied, a bit confused.

"I'll gladly work with you whenever you wish to," she bowed.

The two royals continued their journey to Scorpio next. As they walked, they still felt dizzy from the gravity change. "I would've used my powers back to make the gravity not as strong, but it was her wish," Lucy said rubbing her head.

"You think you could match her strength?" Leo teased.

"I don't know her full power, but from what she hit us just then, I can counter that," Lucy said confidently.

"Then I'd like to see your powers in action soon," Leo said, wondering how well she used the power of Regulus.

* * *

They reached their final destination at the Star of Scorpio. The ground was mostly sandy, and there were small outdoor markets selling food, clothes, etc. A bunch of people were selling or buying at the moment. When they noticed their presence, they politely greeted and bowed to them. Leo held his hand out. "Here, I don't want to lose you. Not that I would, but just in case."

Lucy wanted to hold his hand, but instead crossed her arms, "I'm not a little girl who would run off, Leo. I'll stay close by."

Taking his hand away, Leo chuckled, "Fine, but I'm staying behind you. He's either here or at the beach at the end of this road."

Lucy was the most observant of the markets. She kept looking left and right, fascinated at the clothes. In one of the shops that caught the princess's attention, it sold different types of hair accessories such as bows, hairbands, and such. Lucy suddenly stopped in front of Leo who almost bumped into her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Lucy pointed at the shop, "Can we see this shop just for a few minutes please?" She held the "please" until he answered.

"Alright sure. But only this shop because we don't have much time."

"Thank you!" she grabbed his wrist and pulled him to there. The prince was a bit surprised at her actions. They acted like they were friends for years. It honestly felt that way.

"Why, hello Princess Lucy!" the male seller greeted. "Would you like any accessories for your gorgeous golden hair? It's on the house."

"Yeah and thanks but I'll still pay," Lucy smiled. She looked around and tried on some.

Leo saw a blue bow with a diamond heart in the middle. "Is this real diamond?"

The man replied, "Of course! It's against our honor and it would lower our reputation if we would bring a fake gem to the market."

The prince was a bit skeptical but one of his rings was responding to it and telling him that it was real. "Hey Lucy, do you like this one?" He showed her the bow and she loved it.

"It's so pretty! Yes I do," she tried it on and looked at a small mirror. Before she went to take out some jewels in her pocket, Leo had already paid for it.

"Think of it as a gift. Shall we?" he put his hand on her back and gestured her forward.

Lucy wasn't expecting him to do such kind thing. "Oh, thank you," she blushed. It was hard for her to play hard-to-get when he doing such nice things when he just met her today, plus she didn't want to lose a friend that she wished for.

They didn't find Scorpio at the market so they walked all the way to the end where the beach was. Hanging by at the volleyball court was him. He was a relatively tall, lean-built, dark-skinned man with short hair that is red on one side and white on the other. He had a tail with a large gun that was shaped like a scorpion's tail that has the word "Antares" written on it. Antares is the brightest star of the Scorpio constellation. He didn't wear any shirt, but has a flower shaped collar that is red and trimmed with gold around his neck. He has a red sheet-like material around his waist that is kept up by his large belt that has the Scorpio symbol on it. He wears black shorts, and has bandage-like material wrapped around his arms and legs.

"Wicked!" Scorpio exclaimed when someone spiked the ball.

Leo said to Lucy, "That's Scorpio. He usually says 'wicked' at the end of each sentence for some reason."

"Interesting. Well, let's go meet him," Lucy commented. They walked closer to him. Lucy tapped his shoulder which made Scorpio turn around. He was surprised to the princess right in front of him.

"Oh my stars! It's the Celestial Spirit Princess! Wicked! Hey everyone, the Princess herself is in our presence!" Lucy awkwardly laughed and waved. The cheering people around her either waved back or bowed. But the blonde was confused why Leo didn't get the same respect when he was a prince.

"Why don't they recognize you as much?" whispered Lucy.

Leo shrugged and replied, "I'm usually wandering around the spirit world. They're already used to seeing me and I didn't need them to do all that. I want them to see me as an ordinary spirit."

The princess was intrigued at his thought. She would like to be treated like that too.

"Did you come to join our party, Princess Lucy?"

"Uh, no. I actually came here to meet you. I'm on a tour with Leo around the celestial world."

"Wicked! Well, I'm usually hosting these parties at my home star. Sometimes my wicked girlfriend Aquarius will join too, but today she's busy."

"Your girlfriend is Aquarius? The Zodiac?" Lucy asked shockingly. She saw her picture before and tried to match the personality to someone like Scorpio. Little did she know what Aquarius' real demeanor was.

"You bet! Hey, before I forgot, here's my key. You know what to say if you need me. I'll always have your back, Princess Lucy." He handed her his key. Lucy felt so happy that the spirits she met so far have been so kind to her.

"Thanks! But what do I have to do for you?" she asked, waiting for the next "interesting" wish.

"Oh right, I always wanted you to come to my parties. So can you come to one of mine someday?"

"Sure I would love to!" Lucy said with excitement.

"Wicked! Just come visit my star anytime and there'll most likely be a beach party here."

"Wicked!" she exclaimed, mimicking his word. "See you soon!" Lucy waved and he waved back. She put the key in her pocket and the two went back the palace.

* * *

At their final walk of the day, the two reached at the gates of the kingdom where they stopped.

"Well that was nice first day," Leo said.

"Yeah! I got three keys plus my own!" Lucy agreed cheerfully.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Princess," he said before kissing the back of her right hand. Then they both walked in opposite directions. Lucy, for a moment, looked back at him. He continued walking but smirked, knowing she glanced at him.

During the night, Lucy prepared to go to bed after showering and putting on her pajamas. Thinking about Leo, she put her hair bow on her nightstand. She noticed that after her tour, she was thinking about him most of the time. He did look really handsome and was very kind to her. But she wanted to believe the cause of it was just that he was with her for the whole morning and her first friend. She couldn't wait to get his key later.


	4. Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius

Sooooo sorry for the loooong wait. School caught up to me and I also do video editing on YouTube. Also, NaNo WriMo month is now so I'll be working on the other series (Dream World Book Three) that is also on this account. But I'm so thankful who have read this fanfic so far and the really nice comments. So here you go!

 **Chapter 4: Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius**

The next morning, Lucy never felt more excited to get out of bed. She remembered to put on the blue bow and wore her small bag with the Zodiac keys of course. As she ate breakfast, the memories from yesterday went through her head. She made four friends who were very unique in their own weird way. During training, she didn't use her keys because knowing that there was another one in the mortal world, she didn't want to summon one while they were needed just in case. She got out of the kingdom and walked towards the gate. Leo was already waiting for her there but Lucy arrived just on time.

"Good morning, Princess," the prince greeted. There wasn't a sun or moon in the celestial world but somewhere would be more lit than others to indicate a day and night. The spirits had a 24 hour time schedule just like Earth (unlike in the Fairy Tail world where a day in the spirit world is three month on Earth).

"Good morning, Leo," Lucy replied. "I'm ready to go." They traveled to their fire destination – The Star of Sagittarius. But they had an interesting conversation before they reached it.

"So first stop is Sagittarius, right?" Lucy asked.

"Yep, the star shines its brightest on your birthday, December 1st," Leo remembered. "I would never forget it. The day when you were born was important to the whole celestial world."

"I heard," Lucy recalled the time she learned about it in History. Ophiuchus, the 13th Zodiac known as the serpent bearer, was the leader of the black key spirits. Their goal is to become free from their keys and take over both worlds. At the other side of the world, her star shines brightest from November 29 to December 18 which is within the time when Sagittarius' star glows brightest. A long time ago, the dark spirits attacked on Nov. 29th at Sagittarius star first. All of the Zodiacs teamed up to protect the star. The battle lasted for about three days, and on the final day Ophiuchus' soldiers were about to win. The Zodiacs were being pushed back. But before Ophiuchus had completely destroyed the star and defeated the Zodiacs, Princess Lucy was just born. The Spirit King trusted that Zodiacs will endure the fight, so he made sure that Lucy was brought to the world safely. A glowing light appeared in the distance which was a sign that the Princess was born. Somehow, her light gave each of the good celestial spirits more energy and hope. Then miraculously the Zodiacs defeated Ophiuchus.

"We owe our lives to you," Leo said to her. "So the least we could do for now is to give you our keys."

"I'm glad that I could help right when I was born," she laughed. "But if she ever comes back again, I'll definitely fight with you guys." She punched her other palm and smiled.

The lion smiled back and tilted his head a little up. "Say, I wonder how compatible is a Leo and Sagittarius is."

Lucy blushed. She would make short romance stories of a couple who have compatible signs. She learned that a Leo and Sagittarius are both fire signs and both adventurous. They have one of the best compatibilities.

They never answered the question as they walked towards the Sagittarius' star. Since the battle happened so long ago, the place did not seem like anything bad happened. There were a lot of trees and arrows lying around the forest that they walked into. Sagittarius lived in a solitary life but a nomadic one. But Leo knew the last place he settled in. There was a large green tent with a Sagittarius symbol on it in an open field. Lucy was surprised that Leo knew exactly where he lived in the vast forest.

"How did you know he lives here?" Lucy asked curiously.

As they walked closer, he replied, "As the leader of the Zodiacs, it's one of my duties to know where each Zodiac lives in case of emergencies. Sagittarius is the hardest to remember but he has a pattern of where he goes."

They stood in front of the tent and Leo called for him, "Sagittarius? It's me, Leo. Princess Lucy came to visit."

"Miss Lucy?!" A low male voice with a slight accent was heard from the inside. "Please come in!"

They went inside and saw a cozy home-like setting. In one part of the tent was dedicated to a collection of arrows and bows. Sagittarius was in the middle of refining his arrows. He stood up immediately and saluted her. He was a tall, black-haired man wearing a horse costume. Over the horse costume, he wore a green shirt with yellow trims followed by a red and yellow pair of striped pants and purple frills. A large bow was fastened to his back by a red strap along with an equally large quiver.

Knowing what he was going to look like from books, Lucy wasn't too surprised by his appearance. "Hey Sagittarius, how's it going?" she said as she waved at him.

"I'm doing splendid, Miss Lucy. Thank you for asking." He was still saluting for some reason.

"Uh, you don't have to keep saluting me, or even be that formal to me."

Leo explained to her, "It's just his personality to be formal."

Sagittarius put down his arm and happily said, "I'm so glad you came to visit. You too Leo. I couldn't wait to finally meet you in person, Miss Lucy. You saved my Star and I can't thank you enough."

"Oh, no problem," the princess awkwardly laughed. "I am a Sagittarius now too."

"And I feel so special for you to be. Come, Miss Lucy, I want to show you my collection," he walked towards his set and the two followed. They took about 20 minutes going through his collection. Lucy was surprised to find her interested in archery. Meanwhile, Leo had already heard his lecture and endured it again.

Once Sagittarius was done, he requested one last thing. "Miss Lucy, before you go, may I demonstrate my archery skills to you?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed.

"However, I want to impress you immensely. In order for you to receive my key, I'll shoot an apple on top of your head," he said, grabbing an apple from a bowl.

"Wait! I'd love to have your key, but not for the cost of my life!" she waved her arms around and widened her eyes.

Leo tried to calm her down, "If it was any other archer, I would say no. But you can trust Sagittarius here. His aim is always accurate."

"Even you are crazy!" She could feel herself starting to sweat. "I do trust you, Sagittarius. But please don't make me do this," she begged.

"I understand, Miss Lucy. Then instead, prove your archery abilities to me and I'll judge by your performance," he suggested while grabbing a bow for her.

"That's much better. Oh, you don't have to get a bow for me. I have one of my own when I use the Star Dress." Lucy transformed into her Sagittarius star dress in front of them. Her outfit was a light green and yellow twin tailed coat and sleeves that left the shoulders and upper back bare. She had a pair of dark thigh-high boots with light trim at the top. Her hair was in still in a ponytail but in the back instead of the side. In addition, Sagittarius's zodiac sign was printed on the left shoulder. She held her golden bow on her side.

"Like a true archer, Miss Lucy," Sagittarius complimented.

"Beautiful as always," Leo commented too. "Can't wait to see how you look in a Leo star dress," he winked.

"Someday," she rolled her eyes. "But let's go!" They walked out the tent and Sagittarius led them to a place where targets were already set up. Arrows magically appeared whenever she drew her bow. There were five targets in front of her and for each draw she carefully aimed at them. She lived up to her Zodiac sign by getting bulls eyes on all of them.

"Not bad, Miss Lucy," Sagittarius complimented. "Expected from a Sagittarius."

"I need to be careful around you when you have a bow and arrow," Leo nudged.

"You better be!" she exclaimed while flexing her arm.

"As promised, here's my key." He handed her the key that even looked like an arrow on one end. She added it to her collection in her pocket.

"Thanks! We have to go now. It was nice meeting you," Lucy said.

"We shall meet again someday. To-de-lo!" he saluted.

The prince and princess made their way to the next destination: the Star of Capricorn. Sagittarius saw their shadows right before he turned away. But it wasn't sunny. He turned around to confirm what he saw, but they were already gone.

Those shadows left their host and flew away. They quickly traveled deep underground until they reached the Black Spirit World. The place was mostly dark and had one but huge star where all the dark spirits resided. Inside of shining light, it shined darkness in the underworld. The two shadows traveled to a kingdom where a Queen sat at her throne. They transformed to shadow beings where they could stand up before her.

One of them said, "My Queen, the Princess has been set free from the palace. Our time has finally come."

The Queen responded, "Perfect. We will s-s-send the Eclips-s-se Gate to the mortal world and our plan will begin in controlling the Celes-s-stial World."

* * *

Meanwhile, the prince and princess arrived at Capricorn's Star. It was similar to Virgo's Star where many of its residents worked at other stars. But the Zodiac lived in a more luxurious place than others. Leo knocked on the door and Capricorn answered.

"Ah, Miss Lucy," he greeted with a surprised face. "Fancy seeing you here all of a sudden. I longed to see you one day." He gave a slight bow with his right hand on his heart. Capricorn was literally a white goat but in a tuxedo and with black shades. He welcomed them in where they could all sit with some tea. Leo and Capricorn are close friends as well. They would sometimes train with each other for agility and stealth. As they relaxed, Lucy explained why she finally could travel outside the palace, and Capricorn described the lifestyle in this Star, some stories he wanted to share, and the poems he wrote.

"There is one thing I request before I give you my key, Miss Lucy."

"What is it?" she hoped it wasn't as bad as Sagittarius' first wish.

"Please, let me read you one of my favorite poems that I dedicated to you," he already started pulling it out from his collection on a shelf.

She silently sighed in relief. "Of course! I would love to hear it."

"Splendid! Here it is." He stood up the whole time reading it in a poetic voice. The poem was like a narrative about when the Black Spirits invaded the upper world and how she gave them the power and hope. Then afterwards, all of the Zodiacs wished to see her all grown up in the future. Everyone wanted to see her even when she was a child, but the King strictly forbid anyone to go in or out the palace, unless he gave the spirit the ability to. It was a longer poem than Lucy expected. Literature was her passion, but not so much in poetry. She and even Leo tried to not look tired or bored from it, even though it was well written. Once he was finished, he handed his key to her.

"Thank you so much. We do have to go to our next Zodiac star." She put the key in her pocket.

"I'll always be by your side when you request for it. Farewell and till we meet again." He bowed again as they left.

During their walk, Lucy commented, "That wasn't so bad. Capricorn seems so nice."

"Yep, he is very polite. But I'm not into poems that much."

"Me either. But I would suspect you would. Couldn't you make romantic poems since you're the flirty type," she pointed out.

Leo raised his eyebrow, "You're expecting me to write you one."

"I didn't mean that!" her face was starting to turn red.

He stopped their walking and grabbed her hand. "I could write one for you if you want," he winked as he kissed her hand.

She was definitely blushing at this point, but she pulled her hand away. "Don't waste your time on it. Let's just go." They continued walking but he was thinking and smiling in the meantime.

* * *

As they approached the Star of Aquarius, Leo quickly warned Lucy about the Zodiac. "So I probably should tell you just in case you didn't know, Aquarius may be more "moody" than other Zodiacs. But she's a good person in heart."

"I read papers on celestial wizards who had her key. Each time she's summoned, she attacks them for any reason. So I have a general sense of how she is. If I get her key, hopefully she won't do the same thing to me," she replied nervously.

The Star was made mostly of water (not surprising). Aquarius' home was a blue mansion with a lot of underwater decorations like seashells, pearls, etc. The two were granted entrance by the maids since they were the prince and princess. The mansion was very open and contained one room bigger than the others. Lucy assumed she lived there. They went up and knocked.

"Aquarius? It's Lucy, Princess Lucy." There was a slight pause before the door swung open. She was literally a mermaid that floated a little bit above the ground. She had a long, blue fish-tail and light blue hair that reaches up to her waist, and blue eyes to match it all. She wore a dark blue bikini top and on each arm, she has a golden armlet and bracelet. Aquarius also has a headband, three piercings on her tail, and a golden belt at her waist and light blue crystal earrings. A dark blue Aquarius zodiac symbol tattoo rests right under her collarbone. She would normally hold a water vessel but not for now.

She had a surprised expression at first but she quickly crossed her arms and looked annoyed. "You finally showed up after all this time."

"Hey! It wasn't my fault," Lucy knew she was mean but didn't expect to get this welcome.

"Whatever. You think you can just show up out of nowhere like it's nothing?" she turned around and walked back in her room. She didn't close the door so they assumed they could go in.

Leo then said, "Oh Aquarius. The King finally allowed her to explore so can you show some happiness that you could finally see her."

The mermaid slowly turned around and showed a more of a neutral face. "Even though you saved all of us on your birthday, you were only a baby. I don't know how you are now."

"But now is the perfect opportunity!" Leo exclaimed. "This is the purpose of Lucy's tour: to meet all the Zodiacs and let them meet her."

"I see. Well the first thing you should learn is that you can't just see or summon me whenever you want!" she grabbed her vessel and swung it towards us which caused a huge wave of water to splash on them. Leo was behind Lucy so the wave pushed her back in front of him and out the door. Aquarius' room was on the second floor so the two rode the wave over the balcony and down the ground. Lucy fell on top of Leo who was happy to be her cushion but felt some pain from the ground that hard. The princess immediately got up and tried help him up. He slowly got up and rubbed his back. They were both soaked.

Aquarius looked down the balcony at them. "Or else that would happen to you but even worse if you interrupt me from doing something more important!"

"But Aquarius, isn't your job to help your celestial wizards?" the blonde asked confusingly.

"You think we're just your slaves?! We have our own lives too you know!" The mermaid prepared another wave to send them out the door.

As the water rushed down towards them, Leo reached out to her and yelled, "Lucy!"

But a bright golden light shined when the wave was supposed to crash on them. Leo turned around to block his eyes from it while Aquarius didn't know what was happening. When he could see again, he was surprised to see Lucy in her Aquarius star dress. She wore a green bikini top that sports a yellow zigzag design; frilled, dark sleeves that are secured around their upper arm by a ribbon; and a frilled, dark miniskirt; around said miniskirt is a ribbon that is tied in bow to keep it secure. Her hair was tied up in pigtails and she wore sandals. Aquarius' zodiac sign was on her collarbone too. She blocked the wave by holding one of her hand out to create a force field. Her head was turned towards Leo, however, because she didn't know if she would be quick enough. She then opened her eyes and faced forward. Once the wave was cleared out the door, she looked at the Zodiac with a serious face.

"I plan to treat my spirits as friends, as comrades. I would never think of you guys as slaves. Although we're immortal, we are everything else like the mortals. I value your lives and will fight alongside during battles."

Aquarius stared at her when she spoke. Her hands were crossed and her look was kept straight. She then turned around and started going back to her room. "Tsh, I'm busy right now." She threw her key behind her and it landed on Lucy's hand. "We can know more about each other at another time."

Lucy smiled. She knew that Aquarius was trying to keep her character. Before the mermaid was about to close her door, she said to her, "If I had met you earlier, I bet we would have been great friends." Aquarius closed the door and made a slight smile.

The two walked out the mansion after meeting her. Lucy changed back to her regular outfit and spoke, "Well, that was something." She put her key in her pocket. Six Zodiac keys plus her own were in her possession.

"Yeah, you took it well though. I can dry you if you want." Her clothes were dried from changing back but her hair and skin wasn't.

Lucy was curious at how he could, so Leo created a bright golden light and his hair and suit was dried up. "Whoa! That's cool," Lucy exclaimed. Leo lent both his hands out and she put hers on top of them. He transferred his light and the aura was on her. She also felt something else in the aura. It felt like it came from his heart instead of his Regulas power.

"Thanks," she was waiting for him to let go of his hands but he kept the moment going.

"That thing you said to Aquarius after you deflected her attack… that was sweet of you." His hazel eyes stared at hers.

She blushed and replied, "Well, aren't celestial wizards supposed to treat them like that?"

"Not all of them do. But we do something about when we have to."

"I will too. Spirits should be treated like friends."

Leo was starting to get closer to her face. Lucy noticed and moved back. She pulled back her hands and repeated, "Friends."

"It would be a predicament for an immortal and mortal to be together. But we wouldn't be part of that problem," he winked.

She rolled her eyes. "Let's just go." They walked back to the entrance of her kingdom.

"Well farewell, Princess." She kissed her hand. "We'll meet again tomorrow and meet three more Zodiacs."

She nodded, "Yep, see you tomorrow. Thanks!"

Leo walked away while Lucy stared at his back. She was thinking about that aura. It felt so warm, genuine, and loving. It made her feel that she wasn't alone anymore, unlike when she was in her palace. She eventually walked back to her room and waited for lunch.


End file.
